Doing it in Duddon...

Surprisingly, it is still possible to get away from the summer holiday crowds on some Lakeland fells. Even more surprisingly there are a few valleys, mostly tucked away on the western side, that see few visitors in this otherwise manic land bursting at the seams with summer visitors seeking the inspiration of the likes of Beatrix Potter, William Wordsworth and Arthur Wainwright... Despite being right on our doorstep, we generally prefer to reserve outings on the more well known Lake District Fells for the relative solitude that autumn and winter bring.

The peaceful upper Duddon Valley with Little Stand in the background.

It's a wild and wet, almost autumnal, August Sunday evening in Lancaster and the nights are starting to draw in (pretty much dark by 21:30). We're just back from a lovely weekend spent with a fine assortment of our Lancaster University Hiking Club friends at the Dale Head bunkhouse in Duddon Valley. It's a lovely secluded spot, just south of the Hardknott and Wrynose passes road. This steep, precipitous lane receives significant tourist traffic through the summer, offering a cut through from the Central Lakes to the popular valleys of Eskdale and Wasdale of the west. Turning off this road at its lowest point between the two passes at Cockley Beck leads down a narrow and much less frequented lane through hay meadows of the upper Duddon Valley. The Dale Head bunkhouse is based in a collection of old stone farm buildings amongst the meadows, surrounded by craggy hillsides, dashing upland becks and softer flushes of young deciduous woodland, gradually developing in the former conifer dominated Dunnerdale Forest on the slopes of Harter Fell.

Seathwaite Tarn (Reservoir)

Pike of Blisco.

Imogen and I arrived over at Dale Head after dark on Friday evening and settled in to the lively, convivial atmosphere in the bunkbarn. Thanks to Mark for providing a selection of fine northern ales in mini-kegs from Booths supermarkets across Cumbria. The mattresses were very comfortable and I slept very well in the country air and awoke refreshed on Saturday despite the late night.

We were a large group, so there were several parties heading out on differing activities on the Saturday. Sam was running a fell race in Borrowdale and two separate groups were heading off to climb; one lot on Dow Crag, the other on Long Scar (south side of Pike of Blisco). A significant number of us however headed out on foot from Dale Head, south along the River Duddon, ultimately aiming for Seathwaite Tarn on the western side of the Coniston Fells. The day started fairly warm and sunny, just as well as there were two sets of dubious stepping stones for us to traverse the river and back. At the second crossing, Mark took an impressive, full body plunge into the Duddon following an interesting manoeuvre over one of the large boulders forming the stepping stones! After this, Jim was then inspired to cool off with a full head plunge (see video above). All fun and games! We ascended up to Seathwaite Tarn, and then up the ridge leading to Grey Friar. This was a new Fell for me; as it is an outlier of the Coniston group. There are good views from the ascent and the summit, always good to see the hills we know so well from a slightly different angle. After Grey Friar, we continued across to Great Carrs and down to the top of the Wrynose Pass. Heading up on the north side of the pass, we observed Tom, Harriett, Daniel and Daphne climbing on Long Scar off to the right of the path. We continued up, passing Red Tarn and on up to where Crinkle Crags begins. From this point, we headed off due south along the almost level finger of high ground leading to Little Stand (741 m). This juts out into the head of the Duddon Valley. As a result, the descent down its nose, back to Cockley Beck can certainly be described as a direct, efficient and mostly pathless way down grass, boulders, heather and lastly a small amount of bracken and bog in order to loose the required 500 m of altitude to the bunkhouse below. Very satisfying indeed. The weather had gradually turned more autumnal as the day progressed and by late afternoon/early evening, there was a brisk westerly wind bringing increasing cloud and ultimately persistent drizzle to valley level. We had another very enjoyable evening in the bunkhouse filled with antics and acrobatics thanks to what can only be described as a 'flexibility challenge' game involving picking up a small cardboard box off the floor using your teeth, all the time without using your hands for support. Enough said on that, hopefully it paints the picture :-).

Enjoying much merriment in the Dale Head bunkbarn on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, the wind was still a prominent feature, but the clouds were whipping across at a fairly high level and the rain had ceased. A group of us headed out, again crossing the stepping stones leading to the riverside footpath following the River Duddon. This time however, we took the forestry tracks leading gradually up through Dunnerdale Forest. This wraps around the eastern, southern and western flanks of Harter Fell, and we followed it right around to the western side of the Fell. It is a lovely little Fell with hundreds of little crags and rocky outcrops. The path to the summit from the west weaves through these and quickly leads you to the keep-like summit area where there are several turret-like crags guarding all flanks of the mountain. After a nice lunch stop in the shelter of one of the summit crags, it was time for a bit more pathless activity through long cotton grass and bog on the eastern side as we headed back down towards a now mostly felled area of the forest near Castle How. This little crag rose above the River Duddon immediately opposite the bunkbarn, however in order to avoid a steep hack through deep bracken, we diverted northwards slightly to Black Hall farm and then back south along the River. Most satisfyingly, this enabled us to pass through (once again, as we re-joined the end of our route from Saturday) a field with the highest density of Hardwick's (sheep) that most of us had ever seen! Lovely little herdwicks.

A great weekend, thanks to Harriett for sorting out the bunkbarn and to Jim, Richard, Imogen, Lorna, Sam, Daniel Daphne, Harriett, Tom, Fran, John, Mark, Jenny, Andy, Ben, Calum and Steven for your company on this summer gathering in the hills.

Making the most of the Northern Summer

We've had a good couple of (moderately summer-like) excursions for the last two weekends in July, even with the below-average temperatures and generally westerly flow having been in control of our weather since the very short lived heat-blip at the very start at the month.

Helvellyn Summit Cairn.

Last weekend, a large group of my University friends were gathered in the North Lakes, based around the campsite at Burns Farm near Threlkeld. I joined them for a walk on Helvellyn on the Saturday; it turned out to be a good day out in the sunshine. After ascending from the East via Helvellyn Gill, we dropped down Swirral Edge and back up Striding Edge before undertaking the long romp northwards over the rounded hills generally known as the 'Dodd's'. Imogen joined us later in the evening as we all gathered for a meal at the Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld.

How many people can fit in a grouse butt?!

This weekend just gone, we had a gathering of another set of University friends over in the picturesque valley of Swaledale, North Yorkshire. Swaledale is one of my favourite of the Yorkshire Dales; one of the remotest and it has a very rural Yorkshire feel to it. It is a particularly cosy valley to visit in winter, with  proper pubs in every village. A particular highlight is the Swaledale Woollens shop in Muker, where many a fine knitted product can be found. This time, we were staying at the Low Row bunk barn near Reeth. The lighting is operated by a £1 coin meter so we decided that given it was high summer we would economise, and spent Friday evening mostly under atmospheric darkness. On Saturday, we headed out over Reeth Moor to the North of the valley, a rather barren Grouse Moor with a number of long closed lead mines scattered around here and there. More picturesque and interesting however was the valley of Gunnerside Gill, along which we returned to Gunnerside and the River Swale, the National Park of course is best known for its Dales rather than its hills after all. There are a number of interesting 19th century lead mine workings in the upper reaches of Gunnerside Gill, including the Sir Francis Mine and the interesting stone and iron ruins of the Blakethwaite Smelt Mill. The valley displays perfect limestone overlain by grit topography that typifies the Dales. As the Gill opens out into the main valley of the Swale, the footpath leads through lovely deciduous woodland and meadow, where a few orchids were in flower.
Before heading back to the bunkhouse, we called in at the King's Head pub in Gunnerside for some fine refreshment courtesy of the Black Sheep brewery, Masham. They do know how to mak'em good over there.

Gunnerside Gill, displaying extensive surface evidence of former lead mining activities.

Hill Walking with Bonington... (Sunday 16th June 2013)

Ok it's not quite the South Face of Annapurna or the North Wall of the Eiger, however the opportunity to climb Sharp Edge with the legendary mountaineer Chris Bonnington was certainly one not to be missed. Having been out with Chris and the LUHC a year ago on warm and sunny day in the Howgills at Cautley Spout, this years destination was the small village of Mungrisdale in the north Lakes. There was a good turn out from the LU Hiking Club for the occasion and we even had four dogs in total; two of course being Toffee and Jess Axe.

On a march along Souther Fell with Blencathra in the background, Chris Bonington setting the pace

All twenty plus of us set off at a decent pace up the valley, with Chris having chosen the route for its promised variety of terrain. It certainly did not disappoint; we almost certainly followed the finest line to the summit of the mostly rounded Bannerdale Crags. Approaching via the north east ridge leading through the heart of the crags after which the summit is named, the ascent gave much interest with broken scree and heathery steps leading up through an area of old mine excavations. The stillness and warmth of the air had however brought the midges out and we were soon striding out along the broad grassy slopes of Mungrisdale Common towards Blencathra. 

We had our very own South Col moment at the unnamed saddle at 610 m with Sharp Edge in splendid profile leading direct to the summit of Blecathra's subsidiary, Atkinson Pike. Chris was keen for Sharp Edge, and of course many of us opted to join in. It was a wonderful traverse of the ridge, topped off with talk of the recently celebrated 60th anniversary of the Everest 1953 Expedition. We took a long lunch break on Blencathra, with the mild conditions giving us the opportunity for a good number of obligatory summit group shots. The route down took us onto the altogether different terrain of Souther Fell; home, according to my Cumbrian expert Andy, to a ghost army once seen marching along its broad ridge in the dead of night. We performed a fine march along its grassy apex, congregating on the summit briefly before an extraordinarily steep grassy decent back down to the Glenderamackin in fine sunshine.

A fine day in the Lakeland Fells always ends at a good village pub, Chris Bonington with myself, Imogen, Mum and Dad at the Mill Inn, Mungrisdale.

It was a great day out and was great to see Chris keen to keep up the grand tradition of ending a fine trip into the hills with a visit to a fine Lakeland village pub. The Mill Inn at Mungrisdale provided fitting finish to our day with such an inspiring character. Many thanks to Sir Chris Bonington for being such a great honorary president for the LUHC and for joining us on another fabulous annual walk. His kind words and encouragement for aspiration in the mountains is an inspiration to us all. 

Three Lakeland Valleys, Sunday 3 March

So Sunday was an interesting one! A 30km walk in Lakeland, taking in 3 valleys and nearly 1000m of ascent, but no summits...

The walk began at the Wasdale Head campsite. Myself, Imogen and Lorna had stayed overnight following the trip up from Kendal the night before. It was a fine spring-like start to the day, with bright sunshine pouring into the amphitheatre like surround of peaks at Wasdale. I was soon on ascent up towards the high, barren ground between Illgill Head and Scafell, pounding up the bridle way, down to just a t-shirt and wondering why I'd packed a bag full of winter clothing! After passing by Burnmoor Tarn, I was soon on descent into Eskdale and the Dalegarth terminus of the L'al Ratty (Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway). Unfortunately, no trains were to be had for me today, but I was pleased to stroll into the car park at 10:30 and meet Andy, who had just himself arrived from Whitehaven. The two of us had a good catch up in the sunshine whilst awaiting the arrival of the LUHC minibus from Lancaster. It was a good rest for me waiting for all the walks to be announced and officialdoms of pink sheets to be filled out. I decided to join one of the hiking groups heading for Harter Fell in order to continue on my quest to reach the third valley. It was a fine walk through the wooded valley following the River Esk upstream. After Whahouse Bridge, it was down to just Jim and myself for the start of the long-haul up onto Great Moss. This was to be my first visit to one of England's largest bogs, and a fine time to do it as there had been very little rain for the past two weeks so underfoot it was probably about as dry as it gets. Surrounded on all sides by Lakeland's highest and craggiest peaks, the Moss is a spectacularly grandiose setting, bounded with the fine rock scenery of the Scafell range to the north. Just after Cam Spout Crag, Jim headed off up How Beck towards Scafell, whilst I continued the gradual easterly romp across the Moss until I reached the very upper reaches of the River Esk. I followed this through an exciting, part snow filled, canyon like feature until the beck was no more and I emerged triumphantly onto Esk Hause, the highest point for the day! Unfortunately by this time, the cloud cover had increased to a blanket greyness, and it was quite cold in the brisk wind, so I didn't hang around. With 1 hour 25 minutes to go until the early bus from Seatoller, the prospect of a cup of tea in Keswick got me going downhill at a brisk rate. I was heading for Grains Gill and Seathwaite via the direct route from Esk Hause (not Ruddy Gill). This provided the excitement of a steep snow bank, which made the carrying of the ice axe and crampons worthwhile as I was able to get the metal out and descend in speed and style!
Upon reaching the flat part of Borrowdale at Stockley Bridge, and with about 25 minutes to go until that early bus, it seemed unlikely that I'd cover the remaining 3km without some sort of mad sprint. With around 2km on Tarmac ahead, this did not seem appealing, so I slowed to a more leisurely pace and enjoyed the Borrowdale scenery along to Seatoller. The later and indeed last bus turned up on time and I was able to sit back and enjoy a very smooth trip back to Lancaster via Keswick and a quiet Pendolino from Penrith.

A fine day in Lakeland, whoever said it was all about getting to the summits?

Up towards Scafell and Scafell Pike from Wasdale

Great Moss and surrounding hills, looking east

The headwaters of the River Esk